Likewise, guard Danny Green takes a cue from his coach when considering his own preseason shooting slump.

“As long as Pop's not worried about it, I'm not too worried about it either,” Green said.

Through three preseason games, the Spurs' starting wings have combined to make only 10 of 40 field goals.

Green is shooting a dreadful 26.7 percent (4 of 15), which seems sizzling only compared to Leonard's 24 percent (6 of 25).

The Spurs' most accurate 3-point shooter during a breakout 2011-12 campaign at 43.6 percent, Green has made 1 of 10 from deep so far in the preseason.

Leonard has missed 6 of 7 tries from beyond the arc.

As a team, the Spurs — who have come to increasingly rely on their 3-point proficiency in recent years — are hitting 31.5 percent from distance in exhibition play.

The sample size is small, prompting no cause for concern among Spurs' coaches. If those misfires persist once the games start to count, however, they will become more difficult to ignore.

Both key figures in the Spurs' rise to the top of the Western Conference standings last season, Green and Leonard can only hope their aim improves today when the team resumes its preseason slate in Houston.

“You just have to shoot yourself out of it,” said Green, who ranked ninth in the NBA in 3-point percentage last season. “Just stay in the gym, stay focused and keep your confidence up. Hopefully, things will start clicking.”

In an alarming piece of déjà vu, Green is picking up in the preseason where he left off last postseason.

After an out-of-nowhere regular season that saw him average 9.1 points, Green missed 23 of his 31 shots in the Spurs' conference final ouster to Oklahoma City. In Games 5 and 6, he was benched in favor of Manu Ginobili.

The Spurs demonstrated their continued faith in Green over the offseason, signing the 25-year-old journeyman to the first guaranteed contract of his career — a three-year deal worth nearly $11.3 million.

Green admits his slow start to the preseason has made it difficult to put the horror show of the OKC series behind him.

“It definitely lingered a little bit,” Green said.

“This year, that's a focus of mine, to not have those kind of droughts throughout the season and definitely in the playoffs.”

Leonard shot 49.3 percent a season ago, second behind only Ginobili among Spurs' wing players. His shooting prowess was the surprise of an all-rookie campaign.

Leonard's 37.6 percent success rate from long range was particularly unexpected, considering he shot 25 percent from a shorter 3-point line in two seasons at San Diego State.

During the offseason, Spurs coaches had Leonard focusing on other parts of his game, particularly ball-handling, shooting off the dribble, and triggering the pick-and-roll.

Though the 21-year-old drew rave reviews during the early stages of training camp, those new skills have yet to manifest themselves in games.

“I'm trying to work on a few things they have me doing,” Leonard said. “We haven't really been set with our minutes yet. Team chemistry out there is different.

“I know I'm going to knock down shots when the (regular-season) games start.”

Spurs' coaches have little doubt Green and Leonard will do just that once the games begin to count.

For reassurance's sake, it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to start now.